January 6, 2015
By Chris Kardish,
Much of the health-care conversations this year will concentrate on two issues with major budgetary and insurance coverage implications that Governing has previously covered. Those are the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision that could end federal subsidies in the 30-some states that don’t operate their own exchange, making insurance unaffordable for many, and whether Congress reauthorizes the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which covers 8 million kids from low-income families through state and federal funding.
Unfortunately for states, those are also both issues over which they have little control. There are, however, several other areas to watch over which states do have greater control and still others worth keeping an eye on where federal policymakers remain in the driver’s seat.
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Medicaid Expansion Waivers
“I think the point is, so far, they haven’t turned anybody down,” said Joan Alker, a research professor at the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute who follows state waivers. “Having said that, there are some lines that they’re not going to cross. These are very complicated proposals. But I think from what we’ve seen so far is if a governor wants to get to ‘yes,’ they can.”
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